How to draw on a PDF for free in 2023
Jackson Kustec
jackson@macro.com
Drawing on PDFs saves time, allowing you to highlight important points to discuss with your team or clients. But not every type of software out there offers drawing features for free.
In this article, I walk you through how to draw on a PDF for free with three methods ⤵️
How to draw on PDF files
Businesses need to look for a PDF editor with drawing features, so it's easy for them to:
- Spot errors
- Highlight specific sections
- Present PDFs attractively
- Save time
Consider a scenario where you received a PDF report containing crucial analytics you must present to your team in a day. You spot inconsistencies that could lead to misguided decisions while you read it.
What should you do?
This is where a PDF drawing tool comes in handy.
You can draw circles around the discrepancies and add text for clarification.
Let’s now see which tools let you draw on PDFs for free.
Method 1. Macro
Macro is an all-in-one PDF + DOCX reader and editor. With this software, you can draw shapes on PDFs to highlight important parts and present them neatly.
Here’s a short video on how to draw on PDFs with Macro 👇
Not a big fan of videos? Below is a step-by-step guide on how to draw on PDFs with Macro.
Step 1. Opening PDFs in Macro
After downloading and signing up to Macro, launch the app and click ‘Open a PDF or DOCX file’ to open the PDF you want to draw on.
From the window that appears on your screen, choose the PDF you want to open and click ‘Open.’
Step 2. Drawing on PDFs with Macro
Click the ‘Edit’ icon or press Ctrl + 5 on your keyboard to open Macro’s edit functionality.
From the left-hand side edit menu bar, click ‘Shape’ and select the place on the PDF you want to draw a shape.
As soon as you click on the PDF, Macro will draw a solid white rectangle on that spot.
To change the shape, click the first drop-down.
Macro gives you shape options – rectangle, triangle, and circle – to choose from.
You can customize the shape by:
- Making it solid or transparent
- Adding or removing border color
- Changing the fill and border color
💡 Pro tip: Resize rectangles and circles and change them into squares and ovals respectively.
Method 2. Adobe Acrobat Reader
Adobe Acrobat lets you draw on PDFs in two ways – freehand and by adding shapes.
Sign in to Adobe Reader for free, and open the PDF with Adobe Acrobat.
After the PDF document opens, click the ‘Draw’ icon from the side menu.
When you click the pencil tool, you can draw freehand anywhere on the PDF.
Apart from freehand drawing, Adobe also gives you options to draw shapes like:
- Lines and arrows
- Rectangles
- Circles
- Text callouts
- Polygons
- Clouds
- Connected lines
Here are some unique shapes you can draw with Adobe Reader.
Note: Please don’t judge my drawing skills. 🙂
Method 3. Smallpdf
Like Macro and Adobe, Smallpdf is also a PDF editor that has drawing functionality. It’s an online tool, so you don’t need to download an app to open PDFs.
From SmallPDF’s top menu bar, click Tools > Edit PDF.
Click ‘CHOOSE FILES’ and select the PDF you want to draw on. You can also drag-and-drop a file into the blue highlighted section to upload it.
Like Adobe Reader, Smallpdf lets you draw freehand. You can change the pencil's color, line thickness, and opacity.
Apart from drawing freehand, Smallpdf lets you draw rectangles, ellipses, lines, and arrows.
Read and edit documents faster with Macro
Drawing is a crucial PDF editing process as it helps grab people’s attention. All methods laid out in this article let you draw on PDFs for free.
Where Macro lets you draw shapes and keep things minimal, Adobe offers both – drawing shapes and drawing freehand.
If you want to keep things simple, download Macro and get started. But if you want to draw freehand on PDFs, go with Adobe Reader or Smallpdf.